“Armed” Israeli police entered French-administered territory in Jerusalem this Thursday, arresting two French gendarmes. A diplomatic incident which is reminiscent of a precedent from the time of Jacques Chirac.
Israeli police “army” entered without authorization the church of the Pater Noster (also called Eleona), where Jesus is said to have taught the Lord’s Prayer, a site owned and managed by France in Jerusalem, according to Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister of Foreign Affairs. The latter refused to enter and denounce a “unacceptable situation”. Two French gendarmes were even arrested by Israeli security forces. A diplomatic incident which recalls a precedent, October 25, 1996.
Jacques Chirac had to go to the Sainte-Anne church, built on the house of Anne and Joachim, the parents of the Virgin Mary, which also belongs to the “French national domain in the Holy Land”administered from the Consulate in Jerusalem. Israeli soldiers enter the church under the eyes of religious authorities… and the French president who exclaims: “I don’t want armed people on French territory… I will wait.” The soldiers leave the church to the boos of the crowd, who applaud Jacques Chirac.
A few minutes earlier, while walking in the Old City of Jerusalem, he had already addressed the Israeli security service for preventing him from shaking hands with Palestinian Arabs. «You want me to take my plane and to go back to France ?» (“Do you want me to take my plane again and return to France?” Editor’s note). A phrase, passed down to posterity, which ensured him great popularity in the Arab street.
On January 22, 2020, while Emmanuel Macron wanted to go to Sainte-Anne church, Israeli police officers attacked French law enforcement who were securing the religious building held by France. “Please come out, no one has to provoke anyone, understand?”the head of state intimates them. “Respect the rules established for centuries, they will not change with me, I can tell you that. It’s France here, and everyone knows the rules.”he added.
The French national domain in the Holy Land includes three possessions in East Jerusalem, occupied by Israel following its crushing victory against a coalition of Arab countries in 1967, the Church of the Pater Noster, where the incident of this Thursday, the Sainte-Anne church, and the Tomb of the Kings. The Abu Gosh Monastery, a former Templar commandery which accommodates Benedictine monks, is located in West Jerusalem. Some extremist Israeli groups claim possession of the Tomb of the Kings. These possessions were acquired by France from 1856.
“There is our French history which is a bit particular and upon arriving at Sainte-Anne, which is on the French domain, there was a game which was quite classic, there was a moment of irritation between the teams security and it was up to me to put things in order”explained Emmanuel Macron, following the incident at Sainte-Anne church. This “French history” dates back to the Crusades and the long tradition of protection of Eastern Christians by the Capetian monarchy and then the Republic.
